Prior to the Golden State Warriors’ Wednesday night loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, head coach Steve Kerr delivered a profoundly powerful message about gun violence in America in response to a South Florida high school shooting that took place earlier in the day and left 17 dead.
Here are his words, as relayed from The Athletic’s Anthony Slater and transcribed by CBS Sports’ Colin Ward-Henninger:
“Nothing has been done. It doesn’t seem to matter to our government that children are being shot to death day after day in schools. It doesn’t matter that people are being shot at a concert, in a movie theater. It’s not enough, apparently, to move our leadership, our government, people that are running this country, to actually do anything. That’s demoralizing.
“But we can do something about it. We can vote people in who actually have the courage to protect people’s lives and not just bow down to the NRA because they’ve financed their campaign for them. So, hopefully we’ll find enough people, first of all, to vote good people in, but hopefully we can find enough people with courage to help our citizens remain safe and focus on the real safety issues. Not building some stupid wall for billions of dollars that has nothing to do with our safety, but actually protecting us from what truly is dangerous, which is maniacs with semi-automatic weapons just slaughtering our children. It’s disgusting.”
For those who’d like to see the video, here it is:
Steve Kerr on the massacre in Florida today, again speaking up for gun law reform pic.twitter.com/YHRaN6K9tX
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 15, 2018
Kerr has been among the most outspoken NBA figures as the line between sports and political activism continue to dissipate. And his messages always seem to strike that difficult balance between delicate and well-thought and flat-out on-point.
To be absolutely clear: Nothing any one person says or does will negate or soften Wednesday’s tragedy Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and the existence of this post isn’t meant to trivialize the horror and sadness experienced by so many. This post exists because Kerr’s comments matter. He addresses an issue that needs to be discussed and addressed more thoroughly and does so in a way that should resonate with everyone—even those who don’t share his stance, sentiment for sentiment.
